The report created an uproar online, particularly among German consumers.

And it boosted organizing efforts, with workers at one Amazon logistics center approving a staff council, a step giving employees more say over working conditions.

Norbert Faltin, an Amazon employee who's also the representative of German trade union Verdi at his unit, told Deutsche Welle that he'd received a lot of complaints from workers over the holiday seasons.

"I absolutely see a need for temporary staff during the Christmas rush," Faltin told the German newspaper. "But I demand equal pay for equal work, also for our European colleagues."